1. The Promise of Career Pathways:
Breaking Down Silos, Meeting Business and Worker Needs
Julie Strawn
June 2015

2. Postsecondary credentials increasingly matter for access to middle class jobs
4 decades ago, almost three quarters of middle class workers had only a high school diploma or less. By 2007, that had shrunk to less than 40%. A postsecondary credential, whether a degree or a technical diploma or certificate, has increasingly become the gateway to middle class jobs. By 2020, it’s projected that 2 out of every 3 jobs will require some postsecondary education or training.
Middle class jobs for this analysis were ones that paid between $35,000 and $70,000.
Five Ways that Pay, 2012.

3. Community colleges: the primary portal to postsecondary education for working adults
Almost half of community college students (46%) are age 25 or older.
More than a third are the first in their families to attend college.
60% are on their own financially; among those independent students, nearly two-thirds have incomes below $30,000.
More than half of independent community college students have at least one dependent.
More than half of community college students work more than 20 hours per week.
1100+ colleges, serve 12.4 million students—while not everywhere far more geographically, financially, and academically accessible than any other higher ed sector.
Community colleges are typically where working adults turn when they decided to pursue postsecondary education or training Some also go to four year schools or trade schools but majority wind up at cc’s.
But juggling work, family and school can make it hard to complete college and even for those that do complete, it can mean that it takes many years to get the finish line. Often can’t afford to cut back on hours of work because large gap between the financial aid they receive and their costs, which are not just tuition and fees but also rent, food, transportation, and sometimes child care. 68% of community college students face a gap between their total college costs and the fin aid they receive and that gap averages more than $4,000
And colleges don’t make it easy enough for students to get on a path to completion and progress as fast as they might.
As a result of these institutional and personal factors, only about half make it. National Student Clearinghouse data show that For students who were 24 and older when they first entered a community college six years later 37% completed, 13% still enrolled.
Sources: American Association of Community Colleges, Center for Law and Social Policy

4. Factors associated with community college student success
Clear, tightly structured paths through basic skills, noncredit, and for-credit coursework
Students who enter a program of study in their first year are twice as likely to complete credentials as students who don’t enter a program until later.
Accelerating and contextualizing basic skills to a specific program of study (adult basic education, GED preparation, college remediation)
Financial aid increases both access and success; studies show it to be the single most effective intervention.
Student services are also critical, especially ongoing, individualized help for the most at-risk students.
--Lots of evidence community college students are overwhelmed by complexity of choices they must make. Ill informed consumers makes for poor choices. For-profit example of clearer pathways to credentials, more constrained options. Career pathways in community colleges are one solution, as are other more structured college experiences (Completion by Design) Students who entered a program of study in their first or second term were twice as successful in completing certificate, associate degree or transfer than students who didn’t enter a program of study until their second year. Older students entered programs more quickly than younger ones
--Many adults need to brush up on reading, writing and math in order to succeed. But traditional ways of delivering adult basic education, GED prep, and college remediation have not been very effective, with high percentage of students dropping out.
--fin aid single most effective intervention. Can expand aid for nontrad students, but also is the case that many students who are eligible for financial aid don’t apply—especially adults. Same goes for other benefits that can help support success, such as food stamps, EITC, and others.
--Financial aid + increased student services is even more effective. LA Opening Doors, WA Opportunity Grants
SUM is greater than the parts, COMPREHENSIVE PACKAGE really impt: CUNY ASAP rigorous research–students in it twice as likely to earn an associate degree in three years as those in regular community college program. students receive free tuition, textbooks and public transportation, as well as regular (and mandatory) access to an adviser with a relatively small caseload. In return they have to attend full-time, encourage them to attend summers, too. But mostly young people without dependents. What would a model look like that fits needs of working adults with career goals?

5. Sector Strategies Career Pathways
Sector strategies + career pathways address success factors and connect learning to work
Sector Strategies
Career Pathways
Industry-driven postsecondary
training
Career pathways is one such model. It incorporates the strategies I described for increasing community college completion. But more than that, it is a strategy tailored to meet the needs of working students who come to postsecondary education with career goals.
Short video from CO, where the State legislature has been very active in pursuing both sector strategies and career pathways as part of its goal of creating a comprehensive Colorado Talent Pipeline.
Sector strategies are about states working with businesses in a particular industry and encompass a broader array of things than just education and training. Business recruitment and development; labor market and industry research; restructuring of work environments to improve recruitment, hiring, training, compensation, and retention; etc.
Career pathways are not always sector-focused because in some cases the career pathway is one that cuts across a number of industry sectors, e.g. IT . But also not always sector based because of geography (rural,) or changes in economy (sector contracts , eg manufacturing , construction, during recession)

6. Video: Colorado sector and pathway strategies

7. Evidence for sector initiatives
According to studies conducted by states of sector partnerships, employers report increases in productivity, reductions in customer complaints, and declines in staff turnover. (State Sector Strategies Coming of Age, 2013)
A rigorous evaluation of 3 sector partnerships found participants earned significantly more and were more likely to have jobs with benefits. (Job Training That Works, )
However, sector training partnerships tend to be small scale and relatively selective. Can combining sector strategies with adult career pathways in community colleges expand the reach of industry-driven training?
As was mentioned in the video there is evidence that sector strategies can deliver benefits both for employers and for participants. But they have tended to be small scale and serve better educated and more job ready participants.
The promise of career pathways is that when combined with sector partnerships they can deliver the benefits of industry-driven training to more people and also address some of the issues that keep community college students from graduating.

8. Why Adult Career Pathways—the Challenge of Silos
Workforce and Economic Development
Noncredit training
Business
Workforce
Needs
Basic Skills
Technical
education
Community colleges tend to work in silos, while the needs of working adults often cut across those silos.
--Many working adults need help with reading, writing, math, and/or English language skills to succeed in college occupational pathways.
--Pre-college services (adult basic ed/English language classes ,college remediation) not connected to college occupational programs, sequence of services takes too long.
--College technical education sometimes needs updated or re-sequenced to better meet current business needs and to align with demand jobs offering good wages.
--Business finds array of public workforce, economic development programs confusing, sometimes unclear how college programs link to specific workforce needs.
--Working adults need flexible class schedules, help with child care and transportation.

9. Second, career pathways provide a way for colleges to communicate with employers about job opportunities and workforce skill needs, and to advise students about their career options and the education and training needed for them.
As you can see from this basic diagram, CPs offer multiple levels for workers to enter a pathway depending on their work experience and skill levels, and job opportunities connected to each step in the educational pathway. Individuals might enter at the lowest rungs on the ladder and earn a GED or other hs credential while also learning about a particular industry, such as manufacturing or health care. Or they may be someone who has already worked in that industry for awhile but lacks the credentials to move into higher paying jobs, such as someone who is medical assistant but wants to become an RN.
The new federal workforce law, the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act, defines Career Pathways as combining
rigorous and high-quality education, training, and other services that align with the skill demands of state and local economies;
prepare individuals to be successful in a range of secondary and postsecondary education options;
include academic and career counseling, as well as non-academic supports;
include, as appropriate, concurrent and accelerated basic skills program designs;
and help individuals to enter or advance within a specific occupation or occupational cluster.

10. Current research on career pathway approaches
The Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, has two major career pathway studies underway.
Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE)
9,300 participants in 9 programs with 18 locations in 12 states
Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG)
37,000 participants in 49 locations in 23 states
HPOG and PACE will fill critical research gaps by providing the first rigorous analysis of the impact of adult career pathways on educational attainment, employment and earnings. They will also offer insights into how best to implement career pathways.
There will be three HPOG implementation reports out this year and then starting in 2016 and on into 2017 we will start to get impact results from these studies.
PACE research questions
What is the impact of each program on key indicators of progress in career pathways‐relevant training, such as persistence in education and the achievement of certificates and degrees?
What are the impacts of each program on entry to career‐track employment, and earnings?
What are the impacts of each program on individual and family well‐being?
What are the lessons from PACE programs for the field in the areas of scalability and
sustainability?
HPOG research questions implementation
How are health profession training programs being implemented across the grantee sites?
What changes to the service delivery system are associated with program implementation?
What individual-level outputs and outcomes occur (e.g., recruitment, enrollment, retention, completion, (accreditation/certification), job entry, employment retention and advancement, and earnings) ?
HPOG impact questions
What impacts do the HPOG programs as a group have on the outcomes of participants and their families?
To what extent do those impacts vary across selected subpopulations?
Which locally adopted program components influence average impacts?
To what extent does participation in a particular HPOG component (or components) change the impact on trainees?

11. PACE - Madison College Patient Care Pathways
Here’s an example of one of the career pathways being studied in these HHS initiatives:
Focus on patient care 2 box at top center
Patient Care 2 combines Chemistry, Applied Math for Chemistry, and Written Communication for Healthcare. E.g. in Communication may write incident reports. Math and Chemistry teachers coordinate closely, synchronize topics, and flag problems students may be having. Math is contextualized to what students need to succeed in chemistry class.
When students complete PCA 2, they automatically meet the admissions requirements for all of the college’s health programs without being required to retest on the Compass.
The Patient Care Pathway Program also provides a range of support services to encourage students to complete classes, address issues they may face, and plan for future.
This program is part of OPRE’s PACE demonstration.

12. Interim findings from the HPOG Implementation Study
Most participants received training, case management and tuition aid. Many also got help with transportation and child care.
84% of HPOG participants started at least one healthcare training course in their first year.
59% completed training and 28% were still participating at the end of 12 months. Ten percent of enrollees completed a second course within 12 months.
Among those exiting after completing training within the first year, two-thirds were working. Over half were working in healthcare jobs; those participants were earning an average hourly wage of $11.68.
I mentioned several implementation studies will be coming out later this year from HPOG, examining such topics as how programs were implemented, what early outcomes were, what kinds of partner networks and systems change support these programs, and how do they use performance measures. Here’s an early look at the kinds of data we’ll be releasing later this year.
84% of HPOG participants started at least one healthcare training course in their first year. Participants most commonly trained to become nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants (41 percent); licensed and vocational nurses (14 percent); and registered nurses (10 percent).
Shorter training courses, such as nursing aides and home health aides, had higher completion rates at one year. Longer training courses (which often lead to higher paying occupations) could take over a year to complete.
HPOG will be awarding a second round of grants in Sept of this year.

13. Adult career pathways and accelerated and contextualized basic skills classes are growing
About a third of the states have significant adult career pathway and/or related basic skills efforts
AR, CA, CO, FL, GA, KS, KY, IL, IN, LA, MA, MD, MN, NC, OH, OR, VA, WA, WI
Adult career pathways and basic skills on-ramps are now a key focus of federal policy and initiatives
Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act
DHHS’ HPOG and PACE projects
DOL’s TAACCCT and Workforce Innovation Fund grants
ED’s Moving Pathways Forward, Advancing CTE in State and Local Career Pathways
Your state workforce agencies are no doubt in the thick of planning for implementation of the new federal workforce law, WIOA, and some are focusing especially on the career pathways part of the law. E.g. MD has a work group just on WIOA Adult Education & Career Pathways.
Prevalence of CPs in federal grants:
--26/32 TAA round 1 grants included building career pathways. SEE DESCRIPTIONS: /54 TAA round 2 grants included "career pathways". SEE DESCRIPTIONS:  --TAA Round 1 grants were for FY2011 and awarded September 26, TAA Round 2 grants were for FY 2012 and awarded September 19, 2012 Both rounds were about $500 million each.
--TOTAL 63/ %
WIF June grants
--career pathway or pathway bridges: MD, SF city/cty, LA, Orange Cty, Gila,

14. Career Pathways: six elements
NOTES
Note that the graphic will automatically appear.
To help visualize what states, and especially state legislators, can do to support sector initiatives and career pathways, it may be helpful to back up a step and look at the picture of the key elements of creating pathways. States often tackle these pieces separately at different times rather than as part of a comprehensive effort but over time those separate actions can build toward creating comprehensive pathway strategies, which is what is starting to happen here in CO.

15. Examples of statewide strategies that support career pathways
CO Ready to Work slate of workforce development bills
CO legislature just passed package of 8 bipartisan workforce development bills aimed at growing the state’s middle class. Includes HB which requires creation of integrated career pathways for critical industries and is modeled on the manufacturing career pathway authorized by HB
WA Opportunity Grants
WA legislature’s Opportunity Grants initiative helps adults with incomes below 200% of poverty to train for high-wage, high-demand careers. Covers tuition and fees, and up to $1,000 per year for books/supplies. Students may also get tutoring, career advising, emergency child care and transportation.
AR Career Pathways and KY Ready to Work initiatives
Created administratively and funded through the TANF block grant, AR’s and KY’s longstanding postsecondary education initiatives for low-income parents feature campus-based advisors, career pathways coordinators, academic and logistical supports, and in KY, work-study jobs.
Ready to Work package of bi-partisan bills, 8 of 10 passed with the career pathways bill being one of them. Builds on pilot of northern Colorado manufacturing sector partnership that is working with three school districts, two community colleges and one university to address pathways for their most critical occupations. CO WDC partnering with statewide trade associations and existing sector partnerships to determine next steps, industries and top jobs we will focus our efforts on.
The state recently put out the first Talent Pipeline report required by the legislature, which analyzes educational attainment and pipeline data, occupations with positive outlooks, in-demand skills by occupations concentrated in the state’s Key Industry Networks, and the education/training strategies currently being enacted.
Opportunity Grants help employers by training people for high demand jobs and help low income adults by training them for higher wage careers. Increases persistence and completion with biggest effects for students who could combine Opportunity Grants with Pell Grants.
Participants in these AR and KY initiatives are more likely to stay in college and complete than other community college students.

16. Recent legislation in forum states
Alabama was one of 3 states in 2014 to enact legislation to promote career pathways.
SB 184 provides $200,000 in seed funding to regional councils to identify local skills needs, develop educational pathways and align funding with workforce needs.
IN and TN enacted financial aid legislation to help working adults.
IN Senate Bill 330 directs at least half of the state’s part-time student financial aid funding to adults enrolled in programs of study that lead to high-demand, high-wage jobs.
TN Senate Bill 2471 creates the “Tennessee Promise Scholarship,” which will allow recent high school graduates to attend community or applied technology colleges for free. A related initiative for adults is “Tennessee Reconnect,” which covers tuition and fees at applied technology colleges.
CT enacted sector strategy legislation to promote manufacturing.
SB 29 creates the CT Manufacturing Innovation Fund which can be used education and training programs to meet the sector’s anticipated skills needs.
Tennessee Reconnect is part of Gov. Bill Haslam's Drive to 55 initiative, which aims to increase the number of Tennesseans with a college degree or technical certificate to 55 percent by

17. Recent legislation in forum states
AL, UT, MN and IN enacted legislation to increase cross-system oversight and accountability of education and workforce services.
AL SB 217 creates a state workforce council to promote industry-focused coordination between pre-K-12 system, higher education and businesses.
UT SB 34 creates a Utah Futures career planning web portal and appropriates funding for a statewide data system to track outcomes and progress across K-12 education, higher education and workforce services.
MN HF 3172 requires the Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner to establish uniform outcome measures and a reporting system for adult workforce programs and requires regular net impact and cost-benefit studies.
IN HB 1003 creates a governance committee of state education and workforce officials to oversee the state’s longitudinal education, workforce and business data system, the Indiana Network of Knowledge (INK).
2014 State Legislative Round-Up, National Skills Coalition